How to Reach Buyers at Every Stage of the Journey

Are you finding that your digital marketing is less and less effective every year?

That’s not because you’re doing anything wrong, it’s more the fact that there are just more players coming into the game every month which is diluting the playing field.

This isn’t anything new. Even in late 2014, Media Post found that “… ad budgets are up 17% [for the automotive sector]. Online media accounts for 95% of this year’s increase.”

As digital marketers it’s your job to attract buyers that are shopping online. As General Managers you have seen the impact that online media has on sales and the bottom line. However, with new players coming into the fold and existing dealers upping their investments, it will be increasingly difficult to reach car buyers with your dealership’s message.

One way to increase your message reach is to customize your marketing on different parts of the buyer’s path to purchase.

In 2012, Microsoft Advertising had created a report that identified the stages of a car buyer’s journey from the initial realisation of a need (or want) all the way beyond the purchase to ownership.

Each of these stages has a variety of media outlets and online information sources which are useful at each stage. Back in the day (or until just a few years ago) we marketers would rack our brains to determine the best time and place to display each ad. Fortunately, in today’s digital marketing age we can get extremely targeted with our messages and our content.

Thus, the ability to move from “educated guessing” to “data driven certainty“.

What we found missing from the stages that Microsoft had outlined is that car shoppers aren’t actively engaged in shopping 100% of the time. As a result, we need to add another dimension to these stages – Active Auto Shoppers vs. Passive Auto Shoppers.

Actively Shopping

Simply put, this is when shoppers are actively researching or looking for a vehicle.

Actively Researching

During this time, shoppers are looking at review, research and comparison sites to determine which car best fits their needs and wants.

Historically, one of the only methods to reach these buyers with your dealership message is through basic display advertising. Typically, this is a branding or offers strategy with messages that talk about financing or general dealer incentives.

However, in recent years, new inventory advertising products have been able to provide dealerships with the ability to show live dealership inventory during this stage to entice buyers to visit their website.

Actively Searching

During this time, car shoppers have selected the car, their car of the moment, and are then looking for where they can find one to test drive or evaluate in person.

Reaching buyers during this mindset is relatively straightforward as people are actively looking for vehicles. As long as you have your inventory listed, and have a decent SEM campaign, you’re in the mix.

Traditionally, this is also where the bulk of the digital budget is spent. As a result, this stage is also where dealerships encounter the highest competition and see the most diminishing returns. As we mentioned above, the more players that come into the game, the less effective per dollar your digital marketing becomes.

Due to this oversaturation and highly competitive arena of vehicle listings and SEM, some savvy digital marketers have expanded into Inventory Display and other digital mediums to drive VDP traffic. Similar to vehicle listings advertising, Inventory Display feature interactive ads that link directly to your VDP. However, unlike vehicle listings advertising and SEM, Inventory Display does not yet suffer from a high level of saturation and competition

Passively Shopping

During this time, car shoppers have stopped actively looking or researching the cars they want to buy. These people are going about their other browsing habits in other environments that are completely non-automotive.

Typically, dealerships rely on retargeting or demographic targeting for this phase. However, retargeting only works if the buyer has gone to the dealership’s website and targeting by demographics paints everyone with a wide brush and may not be as effective as you think.

A better method would be to combine retargeting from the dealer’s site and behavioural targeting based on the shoppers actual online auto browsing history, learned by a Data Management Platform (DMP) in the Active Stage. By doing this, you can deliver advertising that is relevant even in an environment that is not automotive specific

By having tactics to reach buyers at every stage, you will be able to increase your chances of attracting more car buyers to your website and ultimately help increase the sales of your dealership.

What other strategies has your dealership employed to attract potential buyers at all stages?

About the Author

Ian has spent over 10 years in Marketing and Digital Advertising. His early days were spent with two of the largest media companies in Canada in sales and sales-leadership roles. In recent years he has spent his time both consulting on digital disruption and as the head of sales and marketing for a social media marketing firm in Vancouver, BC. As the VP of Sales & Marketing for Speed Shift Media, he is the head of all revenue generating activities. With a Masters in Business and IT Management and as an Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia he is regularly called on to present and lecture on a variety of Information Technology and Digital Marketing concepts. Most of all he loves to be outside with his wife and his young family in Port Moody, BC.

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Editors

Jeff Kershner

I’m the founder of DealerRefresh. I got my start in the dealer business when I was 18. From there I've worked throughout several departments within fixed to variable ops. Whether it’s managing the desk, perfecting sales process or studying online marketing and media trends, I absolutely love this business and the challenges it brings. On top of keeping up with DealerRefresh, I consult with dealerships and key industry businesses. My passion has been and continues to be helping dealers leverage new media to sell and improve customer service.

Alex Snyder

2019 marks Alex's 30th year in the car business. In that time he has had a front-row seat for the rise of the Internet and has been working to bring the online and offline dealership experience closer. Whether you knew him from his life at Checkered Flag or his years with Dealer.com/DealerTrack/Cox Alex has remained an opinionated DealerRefresh contributor who enjoys nothing more than to poke at the unsaid truths in our industry. He also helped found FRIKINtech.